Beleaguered RTD Says Higher Fares Necessary

Major new financial problems surfaced for the RTD Saturday as officials revealed that a $7-million shortfall in funds this year will swell to $46 million next year, necessitating a substantial increase in fares.

Meanwhile, the fired chief of the transit district’s much-criticized bus operations defended his performance and said he was not given the drivers, buses and other resources needed to deal with ridership demands and a rash of recently reported problems.

“Without more resources you are not going to have any significant enhancement of district (bus) operations,” said Ed Nash, who was ousted Wednesday as transportation director.

But Southern California Rapid Transit District board members, already struggling to find funds to deal with a long list of management problems, discovered that new headaches await them in the 1987-88 budget, which must be developed and approved in the next several months. A decline in state support and a drop in fare income, resulting from lower-than-expected ridership and heavy use of discount fare programs, creates about a 9% shortfall in revenue for next year’s projected $514-million budget, officials said.

Cost-cutting can make up some of the losses, RTD executives said, but they warned that a package of significant fare increases will be required to balance the budget. “I don’t think it’s possible not to raise fares,” said Leo Bevon, an RTD planning manager who outlined the problem for the board.

Staff members proposed raising the basic 85-cent fare by a dime, doubling the price of monthly passes for most students and nearly tripling the cost of monthly passes for the elderly and disabled. The staff also for the first time proposed a split-rate student pass, with lower-cost fares for needy pupils.

The large increases in discount passes were proposed, officials said, because costs for those programs are soaring. For example, users of passes for the elderly and disabled account for about 14% of the district ridership, but contribute only 5% of fare revenue.

Several board members sharply criticized the fare proposal, saying alternatives will have to be considered. Final action on the fares is not expected for some months, but a majority of board members appeared to favor raising basic fares to at least $1 so that discounts for students, the elderly and disabled could be preserved.

Board President Jan Hall noted that many school districts have been cutting back on their bus services in recent years and that the RTD is the only way to school for many students. A doubling of student pass costs “for families with three or four children who don’t fit the (poverty) guidelines . . . would be a significant cost item,” she said.

Board member Charles Storing warned that offering low-cost passes for needy students would become an administrative “nightmare” to police. But board member Carmen Estrada said that giving poor students bigger discounts was “a good policy step (to ensure that) the children who need subsidies will get them.”

As for this year’s $7-million shortfall, board members agreed with several belt-tightening measures--such as cutting mechanics’ overtime costs and laying off 40 administrative staff members--but balked at a proposal to trim rush-hour and Sunday bus service. Referring to recent publicity about allegedly loose spending practices at the district, board member Leonard Panish said reducing service would be “very untimely.” Officials noted that the $7-million shortfall does not include a $2.5-million management improvement package proposed last week by RTD General Manager John Dyer, who has been under fire for a variety of problems, including high absenteeism and drug use among employees, high spending on travel and entertainment, and questions about driver safety.

Meanwhile, Nash, the RTD’s transportation director who was fired in a management shake-up Wednesday, said budget problems contributed to his departure. He described the RTD as a system overwhelmed by its 1.5 million daily boarders.

In an interview in his Irvine home, the 61-year-old retired Air Force major general was relaxed and insisted he was not bitter about his firing, about which he said he had no warning. He said he was surprised at his removal because, as more drivers were being hired recently, complaints and absenteeism had begun to come down.

He confirmed that he and his boss, Assistant General Manager Robert Korach, had clashing styles of management. But he disputed a claim by Korach that he lacked the experience needed to run an urban transit system. Nash oversaw all U.S. military air transportation before retiring, as well as bus transportation on 15 air bases.

He said reports of rising complaints about bus drivers and service, as well as absenteeism and drivers operating buses without valid licenses, were tied to a lack of resources or management problems outside of his control.

Dyer and Korach, in interviews Saturday, acknowledged that Nash was operating under difficult circumstances. But Korach, who like Dyer has been under increasing pressure from board members to take bold action to address the bus system’s problems, said Nash did not have a grasp of how to best schedule and manage the bus resources he had.